The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Director Wen felt a chill run down his spine. He then thought of Lin Baoya's publicity skills, and his heart skipped a beat. He immediately became extremely alert.

I need to appease Lin Baoya first, otherwise dealing with these two women won't undo the damage. Thinking of this, I took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"Comrade Xiaolin, although this is a misunderstanding, it has still caused you losses. Do you have any requests?"

Of course, we will definitely investigate any violations of military regulations they committed. You can state your own requests.

The meaning is clear: once you've made a request, don't go around telling others.

"Director, please don't be so polite. Deal with their matter first. I'm not in a hurry."

We can't leave yet. This is a huge juicy gossip opportunity; why not take advantage of it? Brother Qi hasn't even made his appearance yet.

The guy who could make a little girl do something so stupid must be incredibly handsome. Bao Ya's curiosity was piqued, and of course, she wouldn't be easily dismissed.

Seeing Bao Ya's eyes sparkling with gossip, Director Wen knew he couldn't let his guard down and insisted that she make a request.

"Sigh! Look at the little thing you've done, making things so difficult for the director."

"Bao Ya sighed. Director Wen looked at her, thinking that it wasn't too difficult, since you'd already mostly resolved the issue."

"Since the director insists, I'll just say it directly. Those two boxes of food were cooked for me by Squad Leader Wu at the private kitchen, and the lunchboxes were all deformed."

The most serious problems are my ankles and knees, ouch~, they still hurt, I need to go to the hospital to get them checked out.

"How about this, you give me fifty yuan, and I won't charge you anything else, Director, is that alright?"

Her bottom line is fifty dollars; there's no point in wasting time on anything less than fifty dollars.

Director Wen stared wide-eyed, looking her up and down, finally fixing his gaze on her knees and feet. He thought to himself, even a comminuted fracture shouldn't cost this much.

He originally thought that he could settle things by giving her two meat dishes, but he didn't expect her to be so bold as to ask for more.

Judging from his expression, Bao Ya knew he thought it was too much. Before Director Wen could haggle, Bao Ya continued:

"My sister-in-law is still in her postpartum period, and my older brother is still in the hospital. We were originally supposed to be helping my mother. If I also fall ill, wouldn't people misunderstand and think I'm deliberately slacking off? To avoid that misunderstanding, I have to give people some reason..."

Since you're not going to let yourself watch the spectacle, then compensate yourself for the emotional distress.

Director Wen understood. The fifty yuan was hush money. Actually, it wasn't necessary to give it, but if she told anyone, there was nothing he could do about it, since she was the victim. At most, he could give her a verbal reprimand, but the negative impact would be irreversible.

Wang Xiao, who was standing next to them, didn't really care about the compensation they were talking about. She just felt that Director Wen was incompetent and couldn't even control Lin Baoya.

You've got a mouth, and you're even more educated than her, how come you still get taken advantage of by her? You're such a useless piece of trash.

"Fine, let them pay your medical expenses."

Director Wen made the final decision, and Bao Ya quickly agreed:

"That's right, let them each have half, so they can both learn a lesson."

When Tian Xiaoyan heard that she also had to pay 25 yuan, she immediately became agitated.

"Why should I pay compensation? I didn't push it."

"You're even worse than the one who pushed me. You're eight feet away and you're already insisting that she just lightly touched me. What, can your eyes fly around like that?"

Are you two really good friends? Knowing that she has designs on a married man, you not only don't try to stop her, but you also help her scheme against others.

"You tried to scheme but failed, so you resorted to perjury. I suspect you might have been the one who orchestrated this."

After saying that, Tian Xiaoyan turned to Gu Panyue, wanting to tap her on the forehead, but she held back when she saw the soup on her face.

"And you, don't you have a brain? What's so great about a married man? You can snatch him away today, but someone else can snatch him away tomorrow."

No matter the outcome, that girl will always have something on you that you can use against you for the rest of your life. How incredibly stupid.

Director Wen nodded repeatedly after listening to her words, saying that what she said made a lot of sense, and it seemed that it was not a waste for the two of them to spend fifty yuan to learn a lesson.

Bao Ya held the fifty yuan she had just received and carried the net bag containing her lunchbox home. On the way, she was still thinking about asking around to find out what kind of person this Brother Qi was, that he could make a girl so hung up on him.

She had never seen a man so devastatingly handsome before, and she definitely wanted to meet one someday.

Gu Panyue and Tian Xiaoyan were taken back by their direct supervisor and dealt with. Before leaving, the supervisor even made them apologize to Bao Ya.

Bao Ya didn't think much of it. It wasn't like someone was trying to steal her man. She had already given them the money, so she had nothing to complain about.

"Mother, what are you doing here?"

As we approached our house, we saw Liao Chunhua pacing back and forth outside, occasionally glancing at another house.

"Baoya, what happened to the lunchbox?"

Liao Chunhua returned carrying a lunchbox stained with vegetable soup, and was startled. Looking at Bao Ya, she saw that she was not dirty and did not look angry.

"Ugh, don't even mention it. My lunchbox got knocked over and spilled, now there's just the bottom left."

Having already received hush money, Bao Ya naturally wouldn't go back on her word.

"It's good that you're alright. Just have something simple for lunch. I'll cook something better this afternoon."

As she spoke, she glanced into the doorway behind her, her expression somewhat complicated.

"Mother, what's wrong? Are you looking for something?"

"No, the old lady from that family borrowed our clay pot this morning, saying she'd return it when she was done. I was thinking of making soup for your sister-in-law this afternoon, so I came over to ask, but no one answered the door after I knocked for a long time."

Bao Ya looked back. Was no one home? The door wasn't locked; it seemed to be locked from the inside.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law went home together. Bao Ya put the lunchbox in the kitchen and sat down at the table to eat. She probably wouldn't eat the little bit of food in the lunchbox, as it was probably dusty.

"Mother, she didn't give it to you, did she?"

Xu Wanyun came out carrying the child and asked Liao Chunhua, looking like she knew it.

"No, I knocked on the door for ages but no one answered."

Liao Chunhua felt annoyed, thinking that the old lady was too inconsiderate; they had been talking so nicely just now, but now no one was home.

"Let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative again this afternoon to buy one, otherwise we won't get it back. That person is notoriously unreasonable; she never returns things she borrows. Nobody in the residential compound associates with her, and she can only fool the newcomers."

Xu Wanyun gently patted the child in her arms. She had been catching up on sleep that morning and hadn't seen the old lady come to borrow anything, otherwise she definitely wouldn't have lent it to her.

"How can there be someone like this in the military? Doesn't anyone care about her?"

Liao Chunhua found it hard to believe. She felt that the army was under the supervision of leaders, which was much better than the village, where no one borrowed things and didn't return them.

"Who dares to discipline her? She throws tantrums on the ground at the drop of a hat. They're so old, what if something really happens to them? Even the leaders avoid her."

While eating, Bao Ya listened to Xu Wanyun talk about the old lady. Judging from Xu Wanyun's knowing expression, she seemed used to being taken advantage of.

She couldn't help but touch the freshly minted fifty yuan in her pocket. She always tried to reason with the old lady, so she wondered if the old lady was just trying to extort money without any reason. She should find some time to see for herself.

Wang Xiao's hand wasn't fully healed yet, and he was constantly pestered by his son, so he had no choice but to ask his comrades to help him make two slingshots, one large and one small, for Wang Muchen.

On the weekend, Wang Muchen came early in the morning to find Bao Ya and Jiang Boyang to go bird hunting in the woods.

After breakfast, Bao Ya took the two of them off. Each of the three carried a shoulder bag, saying they would put the little birds they had shot in them later.

When they left, Sister Wang laughed at them for a while, saying that judging from their posture, they thought they could catch all the birds in the forest.